Katy's first NI Week!

As an educator, I'm excited about what I'm seeing directed towards effective classrooms for up and coming engineers and their instructors. After a long rant last week by a friend soured years ago by an engineering degree where he "never got to build anything" (he builds and customizes bicycles now), I'm charged up about the products and approaches being high-lighted this week.

"Hands-on learning" and the promotion of creative discussion and learning communities (including between disciplines!) are all familiar at the elementary and secondary levels, but often get passed over in post-secondary institutions.

Attended a panel discussion about the future of engineering, namely how to keep individuals excited about engineering. They hit the nail on the head. Students of any age need to see the relevance of what they're doing, need to be challenged creatively, need to put it into practice and need to make real-world connections through discussion and sharing what they've learned with the greater community.

FIRST is promoting it. LEGO is promoting it. Enable is pushing hands on learning all over the place.